Bearers of the Black Staff, by Terry Brooks

Bearers of the Black Staff by Terry Brooks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If I wouldn't have been reading previous Terry Brooks' books, I would be very confused when reading this one. It would have been even worse if I would have skipped the trilogy that came just before this. The story takes place 500 years after that and it is mainly an introduction to the action, which hopefully will occur in the second book of the Legends of Shannara.
The plot is not that different from the one of any Shannara related book, so it lacks some original element that would make it more interesting.
I miss also strong and lively characters: these ones seem to be some shaded copy or mix of already known Shannara characters.
What I did mind the most, though, has been the lack of charm and atmosphere, which has made at least the first Shannara books a success.
Ok, this is supposed to be a story leading to that world, but so far it looks like it is a repetition with trivial and predictable elements.


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The Winter Ghosts, by Kate Mosse

The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a short story that can be relatively entertaining. The plot, once one knows it is a ghost story, is slightly trivial: one can figure out quite easily how things will turn out. There are no surprises, neither special effects and the story doesn't have any very scary touch. It has some sort of magic aura, mystical, surrounded by some general sadness. Possibly, it is what the author wanted to transmit and achieve with this story. But this was my first ghost story so I can't really put the finger whether or not the book has failed in its intent.
It is of course set in France, as all the books I have seen so far by this author and that results in a quite detailed description of the environment, dipped in an historical context where sometimes things are a bit unclear due to the usage of some sentences written in French. I always get lost when she starts to describe the towns or the roads, maybe also because she becomes too descriptive.
I have definitely read better books, but at least, it is not too long and it flows quite quickly to not become too heavy to be digested.


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How to cultivate Narcissus (Daffodils) in vases

Last year I decided to run an experiment: we got and I bought a lot of blooming narcissus (daffodils) for Easter. In Sweden, it is a traditional flower used during early spring and especially under Easter time. In fact, it is called påsklilja (Easter Lilium) - there is also a different variant for Pentecost called pingstlilja (Pentecost Lilium).

Already in the past, when we got them I had tried to keep them alive, but I didn't know the technique, so they never bloomed again and I eventually thought there was no hope.
Considering that the ones I have in the garden they bloom again every year, I thought that it should be possible to do the same, but by having the bulbs in a vase, instead. I really didn't want to plant them all in the flowerbeds, since we have such chaos in the garden and it would have been a pity.

These are the steps I followed:

1. After the flower started to wither I stopped watering
2. I let the vase stay indoor until also all the leaves were withered
3. I removed the bulbs from the vase and stored them in a paper bag in a dry and dark place (our basement)
4. In early december, I took the bulbs out and plant them in the vases with some fresh soil
5. I stored the vases in our garage: a window would provide light and they would be protected from the major cold, although still in a colder environment than indoor
6. Last week, in the end of march, I went and take the vases out of the garage
7. I started to water the vases and let them be indoor

The only problem that I haven't figured out how to solve, is that the blooming is very short. Maybe the passage from the garage to indoor has been too quick (that is the temperature indoor is too high for them), I thought that supplying more water would do it, but it doesn't seem helping out.

I guess I will experiment a bit more and check the situation for next year!

The High Lord, by Trudi Canavan

The High Lord by Trudi Canavan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

What a disappointment! I was counting that at least the last book of the trilogy would be fool of excitement and revelations, but even though some happened, the plot still continues to develop too slow for my taste and I didn't enjoy at all the character's evolution.
The heroine, Sonea, has changed very little from the beginning, except for embracing magic. But Akkarin, the High Lord, loses his shade of mistery and his actions justification doesn't get any better.
On top of that, there are, in my opinions, some flows in the context of the story, with a side story without big connection to the main one, with some unclearness in some way on how magic is used and with some unexplained items hanging as question marks there and then.
It is a pity though, because I think it had the bases for becoming an exciting story, but it lost its charm when the author spent too much time in passages that didn't give that much to the thrill the reader might expect.
Despite everything, though, I still wanted to know how it turned out for Sonea after all the troubles she went through!

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The Novice by Trudi Canavan

The Novice by Trudi Canavan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really do not understand why the author can't skip a lot of irrelevant parts of the story in order to make it more interesting. For how much I still want to read the trilogy and know how it is going to end, I find myself wondering if certain passages are really needed or not. Maybe everything will be clarified, finally, in the third book? Or maybe not... how many times have we seen Sonea harassed by the other novices?
It is also interesting to notice that there are very much similarities between this and Harry Potter. Sonea is not as the rest of the magicians and her antagonist bluntly resembles Malfoy.
And also, why can't her, being the protagonist and surely reserving a lot of surprises about her strenght, being a bit less of a wimp? Her development is slow and doesn't give in a lo of surprises.
Finally, when Akkarin appears on the scenes, the story gets a bit of bite into it, but it is still a very evasive presence.
Interesting is the fact that is presented the odd topic (for a fantasy book) of homosexuality, even though - no knowing what is coming next - I wonder if it will be really of use for the the general plot in the last book of the trilogy.
Generally, I think there are better fantasy books to read...

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The 11th of February

The 11th of Feburary is Mattias' birthday. But not only! It is also the day Elsa Beskow was born, 100 years earlier than Mattias.
Short said, Elsa Beskow is a Swedish author of children books, which she also illustrated. I haven't read anything of her, so I can't say so much about her books, but her drawings are very pretty and Mattias points out all the time that they are "jugend-inspired". And we know we are into our jugend phase, although we are not young anymore, especially considering that Mattias turned 40 this year ;-) (jugend means young!)

Mattias' present

Design House Stockholm has created a line of products with Elsa Beskow's drawings as inspiration. Mattias got 4 mugs and a kitchen towel.

The Magicians Guild by Trudi Canavan

The Magicians' Guild by Trudi Canavan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was quite disappointed by this book, although I managed to get engaged in the story at the very end. However, I suspect I would not be the only one to feel so since at least half the book is a waste, in my opinion. The story doesn't progress, nothing relevant happens, nothing interested is said by the characters. Said this, the first half of the book is definitely boring.
Finally, something happens and one manages to get interested in reading the book. This is not high fantasy and the world in which the story is set is not described in very high details and there is not so much information about the context, but it is also true it is not very necessary for the plot.
It is nice though to see that the end of the book is leaving an open question, which I suspect will be the red thread to follow in the coming two volumes and it ends with a positive note.
Maybe Trudi Canavan should not write trilogies but just single books, since the first volumes of her two trilogies that I have read so far as slow beyond redemption.

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